Fiolek is a 24 year old motocross racer from Dearborn, Michigan. She began riding at the age of 3, when her parents gave her a Yamaha PW50. Using training wheels, she and her parents often spent hours riding in the woods near their house. This love of motocross turned into competitive when she was 7 and started to race.

She is a four-time WMA champion.In 2008, Fiolek earned the title of WMX Pro National champion after her first professional win at the WMA Pro National Hangtown. Despite fracturing her collarbone during the race, she repeated this win the next year too. In 2009, Fiolek won her first X Games gold medal in Women’s Moto X Super X, and went on to win her second consecutive X Games Gold Medal in Super X Women’s in 2010.

In 2008, she became the first female motocross racer to get featured on the cover of TransWorld Motocross magazine, while 2012 got her on the cover of Vogue.Fiolek’s work in this sport has helped to propel women’s motocross into the mainstream, making it more acceptable for girls to participate in competitive racing. Although she is now retired, she continues to both ride and advocate for motocross.

Fiolek has been deaf since birth. Her TED Talk, called “Motocrossing Against All Odds,” discusses the drive and ambition that continue to push her forward in life. Her organization, the Ashley Fiolek Foundation, also works to bring more women into dirt biking and provide resources to underprivileged kids through grants and out-reach programs.

Watch this great video on why closed captions on YouTube and other web TV videos matter!

Why do they matter to me? Without the captions, I won’t understand anything in your video! And that is so frustrating! But with captions, I can watch, enjoy, hit “like”, and share your videos with people I know! Bear in mind that automated captions need to be edited before use: otherwise, they are usually terrible and not helpful. And please don’t forget to include a description of important sounds, tone of voice etc. Deaf people can’t hear these either!

Need to know how to get your videos captioned? Visit the Caption Action 2 Facebook group, and hit the button for “File” at the top of the page. You want the file entitled “Information for Web TV Producers”. Some options available to you are free, they just require a bit of time. These may be the best fit for small, unfunded web TV producers. Other options require about $2 or $3 for each minute of video. For larger producers, paying for others to caption your videos may ensure better quality captions and frees you from depending on potentially uneven or unqualified volunteer support.

Want to help advocate for more use of captions in YouTube and other web TV programs? Consider joining the Caption Action 2 Facebook group, and jump in with whatever tasks you think you can help with!